Transcendental Meditation

A Commitment with Benefits

by Linda Sechrist

Transcendental Meditation (TM), brought to the West in 1959 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is an ancient technique that is simple, easy to learn and enjoyable to practice. Not a religion, philosophy or lifestyle, more than six million people of all ages, cultures and religions throughout the world have learned how to practice TM twice a day. Taught one-on-one by certified TM teachers, individuals learn to dive deeply below the surface of the active, agitated, thinking mind to gain access to a field of calm that lies within each of us.

Today’s epidemic of stress, which impacts memory, the ability to sleep, blood pressure and other body functions, makes learning a meditative technique that has been subject to 40 years of scientific studies more important than ever.

Naples resident and retired nephrologist Dr. Syed Asad views TM from the perspective of health. “TM significantly improves the body’s ability to deal with stress and fatigue. If I had known about it while I was practicing medicine, I could have benefited from TM tremendously,” says Asad, who has been practicing TM for nearly four years.

He states, “The first year or so of retirement was exciting. I was traveling and reading good books, doing things that I never had time for before. After a while, I began feeling a void, a lack of contentment, and wondered, ‘Is this all there is after retirement?’ I was intrigued, and acted on a suggestion to meditate that came from something that Dr. Deepak Chopra wrote. As a result of the discipline of sitting to meditate 20 minutes in the morning and evening, I’ve felt rested, calm, less agitated and stressed, plus it has impacted me in ways I hadn’t anticipated. TM allows for insights to figure things out for myself without any outside help, to prioritize choices and put them in the right order, improved creativity, and in the later stages of my practice, to understand myself better and be more conscious of people and circumstances around me, rather than by acting from preconceived ideas about them.”

Rhonda Laurence began a TM practice in 2011 because of the many synchronicities that kept popping up. The same thing was happening with a dear friend in Miami. “We agreed to check out a TM center in both areas and compare notes. I’m grateful that TM has helped me to accept whatever it is that comes into my life, as well as to stay in the present moment and cope with changes and very stressful situations such as the recent death of my mom and selling her house,” explains Laurence, who notes that in contrast to her 25 years of practicing mindfulness, TM is easy, effortless and less time-consuming. “I loved mindfulness, the traditions of Buddhism, practicing with my sangha and dharma. While all those aspects took a lot of time, TM takes far less.”

“Practicing TM enhances my life, “ says Margaret Grant, a Naples resident who has been meditating for 37 years. For the past 35 years, she has been practicing the TM Sidhi program, an advanced TM technique that speeds up the integration and development of full brain potential. “It creates more coherent brain functioning and better health. The inner and outer fruits it bears are noticeable. For example, life is increasingly effortless and I accomplish more while doing less. Even mundane routine tasks are joyful. It’s like getting the green lights in life. I also notice more resilience when encountering complex situations with a lot of moving parts, like my relocation from New York to Naples,” says Grant.

Michael Warner, director of the Naples/Fort Myers TM Center, learned to meditate in 1971. “Since then, more than 400 scientific studies have been published on the benefits of TM, which has been taught to veterans with post traumatic stress disorder, victims of domestic violence and thousands of inner-city school kids suffering from trauma. Meditators think of TM as a 20-minute dose of self-care, twice a day,” he advises. Considering the stress and hectic pace of modern life, it’s likely that many individuals could certainly use two doses per day.

The Naples/Ft. Myers TM Center is located at 4947 Tamiami Tr. N., Ste. 205, in Naples. For more information, call 239-227-2926 or visit TM.org/Naples.

Serendipity, synchronicity, insights, an awakening to being without doing were all the breadcrumbs that Rev. Denise Schubert needed to follow the path out of retirement in North Carolina and back into ministry in Southwest Florida.

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